the script and his daughter back in march of given an exclusive interview to our tease editor in chief let's take a look at part of that sit down with margarita simonyan analysis here on the program earlier we. pose the new to me and i've been to live one you called me on my cell phone and told me that you are a slumber shooter from the looks on the floor and it all. if you really look like the pictures shown to us by the u.k. i mean that if. you know when the someone why you. we are those who were shown to you in the pictures. and i would say under petro of the russians they are those your real names national yes they are real names and i would suggest that even now when you are talking about it to tell you the truth you look very nervous and then. i can move what would you look like when your life is turned upside down in a moment in just one day and changed our lives this story has been in the headlines

since march but it's only about a week ten days ago that these two faces these things appeared in media in public discourse released by yuko thora to these men certainly resemble those in c.c.t.v. images released by u.k. police they have confirmed they. are file alexander petroff that they were in the u.k. on those days they were on those c.c.t.v. images a lot of digging a lot of journalists trying to do some some news how it worked out to track them down in the end they came forward voluntarily they made a phone call to margaret to say when our editor in chief and voluntarily decided to answer some of the key questions i'm sure many people would have had about what exactly happened on those days and they go on this is the t.v. footage from london you walk in those now famous coats and sneakers and soles bring . all these people you yes. what were you doing there and our friends have been suggesting for

a long time that we visit this wonderful town souls' very wonderful town yes a tourist town. there is the famous solsbury cathedral famous not only in europe but in the whole world. it's famous for its one hundred twenty three metre spire. it is famous for its clock one of the first ever created in the world that's still working. to. get out of that horrible. this is so you came to stores greet to take a look at the clock on the child no we plan to visit london at first and have fun there but. it wasn't a business trip this time. and we planned to go to london and then to salisbury.

but when we were almost there we thought the plane wouldn't land on the first try as there was a heavy snowstorm that's because of all the havoc they had with transport in the u.k. on march second and third because of heavy snow for nearly all the cities were paralyzed we were unable to go anywhere now so that's just a small x. said this whole thing goes all of my groups are asking them some pretty basic questions but trying to get in there to get some info from them the main thing of course britain says alleges is that the. russian intelligence officers that was tackled to year those surprises they denied any links to the g.r.u. the russian military intelligence service they didn't reveal too much about their business their work they said they work in the sports industry in sports nutrition fitzsimmons protein amino acids. interview they said they decided to come to the media for protection they didn't know where to turn and they were confused by the media attention the speculation saying their lives that affect really been turned upside down by all of us what do you work for the g.r.u.

and you me and you and i don't either but no one accuses me of working for the jerry he was but you are being accused of that your colleagues accuse us of that by your colleagues you mean journalists you are being accused by u.k. authorities and yes that's the scariest thing where do you work if you are adults you need to make a living if we tell you about our business people we work with will be affected tell me anything so that we believe you when everyone has questions what do you do to cut a long story short we're in the fitness industry. or i know they also want to say don't know their lives who badly affected by this they say they came to our. moderators from. broadcast here and often online that they came to our team for some sort of safety although because we're journalists not lawyers what was that about yeah that's right and me but that's one of the quotes that moderators job was to get some answers to some questions not to defend them or protect them to get those answers and for the viewer to decide whether they believe this version or not

they say they can't leave the house they can't go to the shop can't go to the petrol station they fear for their families being somehow involved implicated in all of this. that's why they chose to come forward voluntarily and answer some of these questions although there may be more questions than answers of course after all of this let's take a listen. to me why did you decide to go to the media your photos were published some time ago together with your names but you kept silent then today you called me because you want to speak to the media what's changed they should to ask for protection is to them or the way you say we kept silent after our lives turned into a nightmare we didn't know what to do where to go the police the investigative committee the u.k. embassy. or the f.s.b. we don't know why would you go to the u.k. embassy. we really didn't know what to do where to go hello. you know when your life is turned upside down you don't really understand what to

do and where to go and many say why don't they go to the u.k. embassy and explain everything you think a lot of viewers are going to see this interview will have quite mixed feelings the men are clearly slightly uncomfortable some will have more questions to ask some will view this as another piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is the case of course that is going to bit of a game of chess really between the u.k. and russia. the men refused to show their passports that a doctor identity documents on camera they said that one journalist to carry on digging into their past lives their families they did show them to margarita simonyan and she confirmed that they do match with their identity. comments after the interview just giving some from prussians about their interaction i knew they were nervous and sweating a lot i had to turn up the air conditioning a lot higher than usual and still they were sweating and wiping their foreheads which obviously happens when people are nervous there could be a lot of reasons for it i understand this was the first interview in their lives

but they could have been nervous for other reasons as well that's also possible they refused to show their i.d.'s on camera because they didn't want to be pursued and identified further but they showed them to me i did not run a polygraph on them as a journalist i believe what they see i saw those were the people i saw their i.d.'s and they feed the photos and video what was going through their minds and whether they were speaking the truth it's hard to see it's up to those who watched the interview to decide really this is but a chance for those two suspects to give some sort of have some sort of right of reply here to give their version of events their story and explain their presence and you care card for their actions during those days and i mean really give their version of events here whether the public will believe that as margarita said she didn't want to give her impression her job was to ask those questions. of course remains to be seen and we're waiting now for responses from her fish will see where

this goes next or reacting to the interview britain's top diplomat slum did as a fake t.v. show our london correspondent polly boyko breaks down some of the other reactions from you care fishbowls including the prime minister's office. reso margarita simonyan saying that it's up to the viewer to decide what to make of this interview and it's fair to say that the british government has given it a massive thousands down to resume a spokesperson has rubbish the accounts provided by alexander patrol from islamabad share of and they've used pretty strong language to do it take a listen to the lies and blatant for cations in this interview given to a russian state sponsored t.v. station r and then sold to the public's intelligence well that same government statement goes on to say that an illegal chemical weapon was used on the streets of the country and that four people seriously ill in hospital and an innocent woman

died and russia has responded with contempt now this is the second official statement that we've had from the government from downing street earlier on immediately after the interview was first aired there was a statement from the government and it was similarly scathing take a listen the government is clear these men are officers of the russian military intelligence service the g.r.u. who use the devastatingly toxic illegal chemical weapon on the streets of our country we have repeatedly asked russia to account for what happened in salzburg in march today just as we have seen throughout they have responded with obfuscation and lies. so i think to say that the british authorities are buying it is to say nothing at all really no one's going to be lining up to give them any acting accolades certainly not here in the u.k. all the politicians have been rather skeptical to the member of parliament for soulsby john glenn he's tweeted saying that he's delighted that alexander patrol

from the share of enjoyed the world class attractions that sells but he has to offer but it's very strange to come all this way for just two days while carrying novacek in their luggage he also said that soulsby welcomes tourists from around the world and it is very much open for business but the patrols the sheriff statements according to john glenn are not credible and don't match the widely accepted intelligence that the u.k. has on these individuals so you can see that this is a sponsor that is getting worse and we've got to the next stage of it now because we've had a response from the russian foreign ministry spokesperson that's maria's the horror of us so she's responded to the u.k.'s response to the interview and she has some questions for the british authorities there so the surely you've got i believe it's absolutely unacceptable to accuse people of telling lies forty minutes after they

have spoken so i repeat my question directly to the british what is the legal basis and framework for accused russian citizens of telling lies forty minutes after noon to review what was the reason for that what was so specifically non-credible and what they say when official authority to accuse someone of. you must be responsible for those allegations. so we're in the situation now where london is dismissing the interview and last question is about why london is dismissing the interview and london is reminding moscow that they have questions that haven't been answered by the kremlin from the very beginning in this affair it looks like we're getting statements and counter state from someone. the british government has if you would like to step into a corner into a certain position and therefore you can't really back out you can't really say sorry we made a terrible mistake because we would lose face if they do that remember that over

a hundred fifty diplomats were expelled were were declared persona non grata sanctions were imposed and so on you can't really go back down and say so no we made a terrible mistake you shouldn't of the evidence is not there and that we back away from that the british government will keep to his position and probably credibility but if you must keep to that yet just briefly do you think then the interview has changed anything in the situation surrounding the script case. it'll be interesting for the average viewer and they can make up their own mind margarita simonyan said it's up to the viewer to move to make their decision is that credible what they're saying is credible but from the government's point of view they will hold to that position and they were taking this view time and time again yeah we follow this with interest martin mccauley author on russia thanks for coming on the program and sharing your views martin thank you. all right let's move across the

atlantic now where u.s. lawmakers are vowing to impose new more severe sanctions on russia for its alleged use of a nerve agent in the script powell case. joins us from iraq is in washington d.c. following this story as she has been for the past number of hours similar indeed break down for us what's being discussed in congress then. well the u.s. is getting ready to impose more sanctions on russia in november for allegedly poisoning the script palls and that's according to assistant secretary of state minissha saying check out what she had to say the plan to impose a very severe second round of sanctions under the sea the global community will not tolerate behavior such as we've seen from russia especially in poisoning and killing its own citizens we are absolutely prepared to fully implement the second round of sanctions. she says it will include banking sanctions

a prohibition on obtaining defense articles and aid money but back in august it was stated that the second round of sanctions could include cutting diplomatic ties with russia and ing all aeroflot travel and stopping all imports and exports but things said that the second round of sanctions would not be imposed if russia commits to on site inspections we have indicated to them that they can evade they can make themselves not subject to these sanctions if they allow the on site inspections as you've indicated if they give us a verifiable assurance that they will not use these nerve agents against their own people again they have not done so so far and now it should be noted that last october the un verify the destruction of russia's chemical weapons and confirmed that all of russia's chemical weapons facilities were closed through on site inspection the director general of the o.p.c.

congratulated russia saying quote the completion of the verified destruction of russia's chemical weapons program is a major milestone and i congratulate russia and i commend all of their experts who are involved for their professionalism and dedication so but what this ultimatum says exactly is that russia doesn't have the luxury to be considered innocent until proven guilty russia has already been implicated in the class a crime. do you think that they're going to admit that their use goes on their own people congressman at this point it's not even a matter of russia admitting it we we know they did that are you know but. this all began when a former double agent and his daughter were poisoned back in march was determined to be the agent used and everyone blamed russia because the agent was originally developed in the former u.s.s.r. but since ninety one it's been developed in several other countries russia has repeatedly denied involvement and has even offered to cooperate in an investigation

and the o.p.c. w. and porton down the british lab that analyzed the samples couldn't even identify the source or country of origin with all that being said all we can do right now is wait until november to see if the sanctions are indeed imposed or shinton correspondence america thank you. well staying on the topic of sanctions donald trump signed off on talking alleged foreign interference in u.s. elections which he describes as a national emergency the president issued an executive order which focuses on any attempt by individuals or countries to influence or alter vote results the crucial midterm elections in november is seen as the primary reason for the order coming in . in the event medling is proven sanctions would be imposed targeting sectors of strategic significance like finance or defense he gorged on of takes a closer look. trump has declared war on election meddling rules of engagement

weapons free. the out of the nine videos from the two were proved to be sent to the us and the o.p.c. w. the rest of the material was suggested for social media because of low quality. well according to the russian reconciliation center the preparations were made near the syrian town of can she could where an alleged chemical attack occurred in april last year it's claimed that filming took place in a nearby village where there is also a chemical stockpile washington has ignored warnings from russia that the self-styled syrian rescue group the white helmets are directly involved in staging the attack saying there is no evidence to support the claim does the battle for it live province loons the u.s. is pouring troops into syria saying that if there is a chemical attack there will be a much stronger response than before. looks into how washington's approach in syria has evolved over recent years. the deeper the u.s.

gets sucked into the syrian conflict the more the continuity of time seems to change when it comes to decision making in washington back in two thousand and thirteen when allegations of chemical attacks arose barack obama was still in the hot seat and time still seemed minear we intend to investigate thoroughly exactly what happened. obviously in syria right now you've got a war zone we have to make sure that we know exactly what happened what was the nature of the incident what can we document what can we prove. commonsense review the evidence and attack if justified later the idea that investigations require time those were the good old days but two thousand and seventeen came and times changed syrian dictator bashar. launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians less than seventy two

hours later the u.s. fired fifty nine cruise missiles at the airbase they suspected chemical weapons were launched from before any investigation took place. only months later did a un report come out placing the blame at the feet of the syrian government something they still deny the when the controversial white how much group released a video claiming to be proof of a chemical attack in april this year trope was able to pinpoint the culprit in hours many dead including women and children in mindless chemical attack in syria area atrocities in lockdown and encircled by syrian army making it completely inaccessible to outside world president putin russia and iran are responsible for backing animal assad big price so the areas inaccessible and yet those responsible have been found out already no ifs ands or buts how does the guy do it the u.k.

and france also join the ranks of the striking government sites in syria.